Italy vs. Belgium: Alessandro Romano’s Debut Turns into a Nightmare Within 20 Minutes
It took just over 20 minutes for the Italy-Belgium match to turn into a nightmare for Alessandro Romano. The Cagliari midfielder, one of the most anticipated new additions to Roberto Mancini’s new era as head coach, started the Nations League match against Belgium but ended up playing a decisive—albeit negative—role in the outcome of the first half. In fact, it was he who lost possession in midfield when Kevin De Bruyne snatched the ball from his feet and played a through ball to Mika Godts, who converted it into the visitors’ opening goal in the 21st minute.
Earlier, the Azzurri had created dangerous chances through Cambiaghi, Pio Esposito (who hit the post in a play that was, however, ruled offside), and Kean, but Belgium—already a threat before the goal—was galvanized right after Godts’s strike. Before halftime, Donnarumma had to make two saves in a single play to stop shots by De Ketelaere and Raskin; then Moreira missed from just a few steps away from the goal, and once again the Italian captain saved his team with a masterful stop on a header by the ever-present Godts. It wasn’t until the end of the half that the Italian national team made its presence felt again in the opponent’s box through Romano and Kean, in a match that had already taken a turn for the worse even before the first half had ended.
The evening at the Olimpico had, in fact, begun in the worst possible way even before kickoff, marking another dark chapter for Italian soccer. As the national anthems were played, part of the crowd in the stands booed “La Brabançonne,” the Belgian national anthem. The rest of the fans tried to drown out the boos with applause, but the damage was already done—and on an international scale. This incident comes at an already delicate time for Italian soccer, fresh off its third consecutive failure to qualify for the World Cup, and just days after the uproar caused by some Juventus ultras’ failure to observe a minute of silence for Sandro Mazzola, which cost the club a 10,000-euro fine from the Sports Judge.
For Romano, therefore, his very first half in an Azzurri jersey turned out to be a bitter experience. Yet the prospects had been anything but bleak: Coach Mancini had chosen him as the linchpin of the midfield precisely because of the excellent impressions he had made, so much so that he had lavished praise on him. “I didn’t know much about Romano, but after the first matchday he made a good impression, so we wanted to see him,” the head coach had stated. “It wasn’t easy, but we believe he can be very useful for the future of the national team. He reads the game well, plays one-touch football, and so he’ll be important going forward. Claudio Ranieri, who coached him at Roma, also played an important role.”
Romano’s profile, after all, is built on a personal and athletic journey that is anything but ordinary. Born in Winterthur on June 17, 2006, to a family with roots in Naples and Puglia, the midfielder moved through the Swiss youth ranks all the way to the Under-17 team before being scouted by Roma in 2022 and brought to Trigoria. After making his Serie A debut on January 6 against Lecce and a successful loan stint with Spezia in Serie B, he joined Cagliari, where he quickly established himself as one of the league’s most promising young players. FIFA then approved his change of sporting nationality, paving the way for his call-up to the Italian national team. This decision did not go unnoticed in Switzerland: “If someone has come up through the ranks here and then prefers to play for Italy, let him play for Italy. The Swiss national team doesn’t have to beg anyone,” former Swiss international Alberto Regazzoni commented with a touch of bitterness.
